chicken and pasta :]

Courtney Dellinges


English , period 1

8/31/10



“Lazy Days,” The days where you feel like if you try and get out of bed you will collapse right back down, and when you can’t keep your eyes open for more than ten minutes without falling asleep. We all have our definition of what we think is lazy and we all show lazy in a different way. My mom usually loves to cook huge extravagant dinner every night, but when our family is feeling tired, or can I say very lazy, we all work together and make an easy dinner, that happens to be family favorite. It was a Sunday night and my family and I were on our way home from Berryessa. My sister, Kiersten, and I were complaining about how hungry we were and my mom was pretending to listen but really she was falling asleep. My mom was so tired she refused to make us a large dinner that would take a long time. Instead she put some pasta on the stove and my dad starting barbequing chicken and within ten minutes dinner was ready. It has been a family favorite ever since.

In n out, taco bell, burger king. My dad passed them all on the way home, my sister and I sitting in the car waiting for him to stop. Not once did he, not even to slow down for the yellow lights. He was in a rush to get home and we were all extremely tired.

“Take your bags out of the car girls.” Dad said

After unpacking the car, Kiersten and I sat at the kitchen table making it obvious that we were hungry. We didn’t want to bother our parents because we knew they were exhausted from the big weekend. As my sister and I give up and start to walk upstairs, we hear,

“Kiersten, Courtney, are you hungry.” Yells mom

We quickly turn around and run downstairs eager for the large dinner that is about to be prepared for us. My mom explained to us that she didn’t have time to make us a big meal, and that we all needed to pitch in so that we could make a quick dinner. She slowly walked to the cabinet, dragging her feet on the cold tile floors and pulled out penne pasta. My dad went to the freezer, took out chicken and told me to follow him outside. We got a dripping wet cloth and laid it against the barbeque to clean it. I heard the sizzling of the water hitting the hot grills, and watched the steam rise into the sky until I couldn’t see it anymore. I walked inside the house and saw my mom and sister boiling the water and inserting the pasta into the pot.

Quickly my mom said, “ Kiersten go choose sauce for the noodles.”

She gracefully skipped over to the wooden cabinet and looked through all the sauces available in our kitchen. I carefully watched her as she pulled out a large glass of white sauce. Unhappy with her decision I yelled,

“ No Kiersten, I want the red sauce!”

Of course we got in a huge fight over the sauce on the pasta. To end it my dad quickly walked inside and asked me to go back out and help with the chicken. When the chicken was done we cut it into long thin slices, and then again into tiny little squares. After that we dumped it into the large pot of pasta and poured the thick, white, cream sauce all over the top. My mom grabbed a huge spoon and let my sister and I mix it all together. That night we ate like we have never seen food before and we even managed to save room for my dad’s special dessert, but that’s a whole different story.

My Mom Couldn't Cook

When describing something, it is very important to go into detail. You need to make the reader interested and feel like they are tasting what you are describing. For example, "... Battle-ship gray lamb chops and the olive- drab green beans. " Color can be a good adjective but you can also use words that describe taste. Like in " No Wonder They Called Me a Bitch" she uses the words, wet, soyish, thick, black, warm and many more. The author also uses verbs like, leaking, sizzling, melting, and frying. Both these authors used words that would describe their unpleasent food experiences, and they both go into detail making it feel as if you were eating it too.

Foods all around the world

I realized that food is a big part of people’s lives. There are different kinds of foods all around the world based on where you are. For example in Italy pasta is very popular, more popular than anywhere else in the world. China is also known for their noodles, but they are cooked and seasoned in a different way. Food can be more than just something to eat, it can also bring people together. For example many people go on dates out to dinner and it can even just bring the family together for a meal. Also, Turkey is a big part of thanksgiving. Many people get exicted for the big dinner planned on that day with their loved ones. Food takes a big toll in peoples like for different reasons.

We are what we eat :)

As I looked through pictures of what people eat all around the world, I learned that a lot of families foods are similar but the amount of food varied throughout the world. I saw that the two US families had a lot of food and most of it was unhealthy, like pizza and soda. The families from Chad and Ecuador did not have very much, and the food they did, have were mostly grains. Chinese and Japan families mostly meat and noodles, and Mexico, Bhutan and Egypt had a lot of fruits and vegetables. I think culture strongly influences what people eat. Also if you were grown up eating certain types of food that is usually what you stick with throughout your life.

"But once in a while people push on to something better. Something found just beyond the pain of going it alone and just beyond the bravery and courage it takes to let someone in. Or to give someone a second chance. Something beyond the quite persistence of a dream." -one tree hill

"Things aren’t always going to be fair in the real world. That’s just the way it is. But for the most part, you get what you give. Rest of your life is being shaped right now. With the dreams you chase….The choices you make….and the person you decide to be. The rest of your life is a long time. And the rest of your life starts right now."- one tree hill

"Because it´s only when you´re tested that you truly discover who you are. And it´s only when you´re tested that you discover who you can be. The person that you want to be does exist, somewhere in the other side of hard work and faith, and belief and beyond the heartache and fear of what life has. "- one tree hill